Mill Creek seeks levy, improvements in 10-year plan

The Mill Creek MetroParks Board heard the new plan for improvements, branding and marketing at the parks for the next 10 years.

A big part of the plan is creating a strategy to lead to the passage of a levy and using marketing and promotion to bring a long-term financial and cost-recovery plan, said Dennis Miller, executive director said at Monday’s board meeting.

The details of the levy amount were not available, and the board must further discuss the issue.

Board members will have a meeting and work session Saturday to discuss the 2013 budget and take a vote.

Without a concrete budget and without knowing the full plan of action for capital improvements and other park- district priorities, the plan right now is for the board to put in place the strategy for a levy in 2014 and how to get it passed.

The first part of the plan was enacted at the meeting with the welcome of Samantha Villella as the new community- engagement director. She will start March 25. Details on her salary were not available at the meeting.

“With community engagement, we’re going to combine the efforts of the marketing and development department with the recreation and education department,” Miller said, adding that this will help the programming and promotion of the parks get out to larger audiences.

Miller said members of the public often have said they didn’t realize some of the services the MetroParks provides, and this new coordinated effort will work better to get the message out.

One of the board’s requests that made it into the goals was a trail- assessment plan to prioritize improvements.

“The trails were a top priority in the public comment as well,” Miller said.

Trail improvements are on the list of infrastructure goals, including capital improvements and changes to parks’ schedules, Miller said, though specifics were not outlined at the meeting.

On the marketing side, though, plans and development already are in place for a new logo and look for MetroParks displays and promotional materials.

“The goal is to have something that is immediately identifiable as the MetroParks,” said Linda Kostka, marketing director. “We’re working on the logo right now and making sure it works in all formats.”

Comments

typical government objective, always trying to get more taxpayer dollars from the public METROPARKS already have a levy, try living within their means and stop overspending.. All that has been decided is they need more money,, just not sure what it can all be spent on!

Where is the local Tea Party when you need them. Oh that's right. They are the baby boomers that are walking in the park and want better trails, renting cheap movies and taking out books free from the library. It is time to vote NO on both of this issues. Put gates on the entrances and charge admission and see how many people will go in.

nojimbo, you are right, what will the Marketing Director do, with this additional marketing person, another costly addition to the ever-growing bureaucracy, too many chiefs, not enough Indians; why does a park even need a marketing person in the first place; and gdog4766, you are also right, just like the Library and the WRTA, keep wasting money on unnecessary projects. I wonder how much money will be spent on the new marketing plan